Wichita eagle., 1887-08-13
WILD GAME In MONTANA.
ANTELOPE MAKING FRIENDS WITH
THE UNNAMED BEEF CATTLE.

Their Association and Curious Friend
ship for Buffalo-A Case of Snow
Blindness-A Simple Antidote Which
Effects q Total Transformation.
In crossing the northwest plains as far
back as 1879, 1880 and 1881, it was an every
day occurrence to run upon many herds Of
buffalo, some of them SO large that it would
require all the way from one to three days to
pass through them. remember such was
the case in the winter Of 1875 while our COM
mand was chasing Sitting Bull and his myr.
midons toward the British border. Lining
the Red Water, and stretched out over .
broad expanse of country, was a tremendous
herd Of bison that must have numbered close
on to 100000 head, for 1t took US nearly
seventy-two hours to pass through this mon
strous mass of living creatures, who made
little attempt to give Us the right Of way.
On this same expedition We would frequently
encounter some large bands of antelope,
something like punches Of 900 head, more
or less, but we always found it a difficult
matter to approach within reasonable shoot
owing to their keenness of sight, acuten@s
Of smell, and nimbleness of foot. Once sighted
by antelope, it meant Q shot at 400 yards
and beyond or not at all
But now comes the remarkable discovery
made of the habits of the antelope, and
which believe are not put down in any Of
the books which tell US, and are supposed to
know, all about the ways, customs, and
habits pf this haa f,,1 A.
marked, 400 yards was near for a shot if dis
covered, although 300 and 200 yards have
been gained by close creeping and crawling if
neither scented nor seen. On the other hand,
buffalo might be approached almost with
IMMUNITY up to $50 yards, but the ring Of a
rifle brings on big scare, when off bound
the big fellows at $40 gait and are soon
lost to view in the distance and dust Of the
prairie. Now it happened while hunting
bison that became aware Of this fact, that
antelope associate with, browse in company
and keep sort Of curious friendship with the
big unwieldy brutes I observed scattered
al through the hsffalo herds numerous MEM
bers of the antelope family, and also that they
seemed to be bereft of fear when in such good
company, for very seldom did observe them
take to their heels even when rode down the
bison and scattered them right and left. On
one occasion after sending about 900 buffalo
scampering over the hills, saw dozen or SO
antelope who hung in the rear and on the
tanks of the herd, seemingly loath to take to
their heels and seek safety in flight. I rode
up to one buck, actually approaching to
within twenty-five yards Of him, and shot the
fine fellow with my revolver.
ANTELOPE AMONG CATTLE
Strange to say, the hills and valleys Of
Montana this year show a greater number OF
antelope than at any time since the season of
1881. The correspondent has been riding
ever the south Yellowstone ranges-in about
two feet Of snow, more OF leSs-and in running
across numerous herds of cattle along the
MiZpah, Pumpkin, Powder and Tongue
rivers, was surprised and astonished to find
scattered all through the cattle any number
of fine, fat antelope. Cows and antelops
were grazing side by side, on the most init
mate and friendly terms, the former SEEM
ingly AZ wild and unapproachable as the lat
ter, and all enjoying themselves as only wild
animals can. Neither myself nor the friend
riding with me-who, by the way, was owner
of all the stock we had seen and passed |
througb.for miles-was able to approach closer |
than a distance Of 200 yards. Antelope and |
steers stood us off that distance, and would |
allow no closer acquaintance even from my |
friend, who was master of ali that beef |
around him. The day was fine one, the |
sun shining brightly, and rejecting from the |
CLASSY, white crusted surface a glare of such |
power and force that it caused my eye to !
water, and also gave me much pain whenever |
/ attempted to concentrate my gaze on any |
one object. was actually afflicted with |
snow blindness, although totally unaware Of |
It at the time.
The truth was made apparent when my |
friend, knowing that l was a fair shot with |
che rife, invited me to try my hand at bring |
ing down one of the visiting antelope from |
where he stood. confidently unstrung my |
and after throwing cartridge |
into the chamber took fine aim at the fore
head of "a magnificent buck, who was intsntly |
watching Us from the short range of 200 Yards /
could see the eyes of the animal plainly, but |
when l attempted to glance along the sights |
both the forehead and the rear notch became |
80 badly blurred that it was simply impossible
to draw EN- accurate aim. / lowered the
piece, and, for few minutes, the whole pam
Drama spread ont before me became dane
ing mirage, 50 that / was unable to distin.
age steers from antelope and ground from
the sky Ny vision came back to me in q
few minutes, but upon attempting the sight
ing process again tho same indistinct blur
came over the sights and rendered an accu-
rate aim impossible / tried it again and
again with the same result, and then remem-
bered a pointer given me by an old plains
hunter some years before, which was and is q
thorough and positive antidote for snow
blindness.
ANTIDoTE FOR SNOW BLINDNESS.
Take piece of burnt cork, or If that is not
handy, burn a match and char q little piece
Of wood. Black the skin around and under
The eyes, and also the whole length Of the
nose on each side, and also down the bridge
Of the nasal organ. Armed with this little
no one need ever fear an attack
IF snow blindness. My friend had a match,
and as for the cork-well, we had a bottle
between us and q portion of the stopper was
quickly converted into charcoal With this I
literally "smutted" my nose and eyes, and
hen tried to see if could discern an antelope
across the sights with ordinary clearness.
1t was total transformation. The animal
TODD out in bold relief and the notch and
,ead Of the sights were as clear and distinct
IS even the most fsstidious on such subjects
,ould desire. l blazed away at the same old
oolish buck, who was still gazing in sort Of
wondering admiration at US, and had the
satisfaction of dropping him at the first FIRE.
We dined of antelope steak that night, and
juicy, delicious morsel it was, too While
listing my friend at his ranch, enjoyed
more than one delightful hunt Among the
,ame bagged by myself may be mentioned
allant buck Of the blacktail deer species,
nth the most beautiful antlers have almost
yer seen; n brace Of mountain sheep, and
ny quantity Of cottontal and iacksss rab-